I didn't make it to bed until well after midnight last night because I couldn't stop listening. The first half of the album is killer, but the second half is all groove and move.
Just finished it. The second half definitely gets into a darker, funkier groove for a bit, and then the ending three tracks are just a kick. The Door is gonna be a dorm room jam in years to come.
Oh man...
To wake up and find this. What a great Sunday. Joanna Newsom announcing she's working on her new stuff and a new D'angelo song: best week of the year.
I caught him at the House of Blues in LA two years ago. He played five new songs. If the rest of the stuff is as consistently solid and memorable as those tracks, the album is going to be a motherfucker.
When I saw this news after getting home from work, I let out a loud, high-pitched squeal. Joanna's my favorite musician/songwriter/performer around, so any news of new work is more than welcome.
Bags' Groove is another that really deserved a mention. The playing on those sides is excellent, and it's a joy to hear Miles and Sonny Rollins together.
I think of Talk Talk's later period as the only thing that I could easily compare to Sketches of Spain. I used to find it boring and glossy, but once it got its hooks in I haven't been able to give it up.
I caught these guys by random chance right when Power Trip came out. I was in law school at the time, and when I went to class the next day I couldn't turn my head whatsoever because the aggressive headbanging that Marissa and gents caused.
Screaming Females are the truth. They are the best live band in the world since the Mae Shi fell into the abyss.
Aaron, I love the additional track post!
When is that Horrendous album going to come out already? Between the link in the last Black Market and the other Stereogum premiere, that's now my most anticipated upcoming release.
Not to mention the fact that it seems terribly reductive to simply call her a throat singer. Huun Huur Tu are throat singers, she sounds more like an electronic artist who uses throat singing as one texture in her arsenal.
Seriously, that rhythm guitar, blasting out one chord over and over, during the first solo on Let There Be Rock, is one of the most fantastic pieces of minimalism in music. All you need is an A pounding your skull into the concrete, over and over and over.
Let There Be Rock should be number one. I wouldn't argue Powerage at two, but Let There Be Rock's lesser songs are as good as Powerage's lesser songs and there is very little in rock as good as Whole Lotta Rosie and the title track, Let There Be Rock. The rhythm guitar tracks on those songs are the basis for Shellac's entire damn career.
I didn't find them boring in the least bit when I caught them. Maybe not as energetic as Enslaved or as intense as Royal Thunder (the other two acts who played with them) but I was sufficiently crushed.
Except if you've attended an ATP festival, you'd know that they are about as far from a bad one as they come. They have, in recent years, shown themselves to be inept at keeping things on the tracks, but the three festivals in the Catskills and the one in Asbury Park remain four of the best, most consistently engaging and worthwhile events I've ever attended. With their camp-style weekends they perfected the art of the independent festival, and it would be a real shame to see people with such great skills disappear from the scene because they are terrible at money management.
There should also be a Counting Down of the best Petty/Heartbreakers songs. Maybe Running Down A Dream would get a mention then? I just love how that song is put together.
I loved the Young Liars EP, but I'll never forget catching them live for the first time, opening for Franz Ferdinand, and hearing the title track from that release live. My jaw was on the floor for the remainder of the night, and it still knocks the wind outta me every single time I see them.
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